Merchandising package



Dec. 29, 1964 c. M. WOMER 3,162,882

MERCHANDISING PACKAGE Filed Aug- 19, 1963 I I I III 5 fil/H/ H Ill 20 2/ INVENTOR. CLYDE M WOME R United States Patent ()fifice 3,162,882 Patented Dec. 29, 1964 3,162,882 IVIERCHANDISING PACKAGE Clyde M. Womer, Sufiern, N.Y., assignor 'to Knomark, Inc., Brooklyn, N.Y., a corporation of New York Filed Aug. 19, 1963, Ser. No. 302,779 4 Claims. (Cl. 15-258) The present invention relates to packages of the type wherein a container of shoe polish, or the like, for example, along with a separate but initially accompanying dauber for applying the polish provide a kit which may be effectively displayed and sold as a compact merchandising unit.

Known forms of shoe polish kits commonly include various shapes and sizes of boxes, cans or the like, containing waxy shoe polish paste and daubers also of various shapes and sizes but frequently unnecessarily large and cumbersome. These items may also be purchased separately by the user. In either case, the paste is commonly packed in a circular can or box provided with a lid or cover which snaps open when the user presses with his fingers on indicated edge portion of the lid, for example, with his thumb engaging the top wall of the lid and his forefinger engaging an opposed portion of the bottom wall of the box. Where such packages of shoe polish are openly and accessibly displayed, as in self-service stores, it is possible for persons to open or remove the lids so that the quality or condition of the can contents may become unsalable.

An object of the invention has been to provide a unit merchandising package of a can or box of shoe polish paste, or the like, and a moderately sized polish dauber, initially in a compact and readily assembled form but which is not intended to be reassembled after the package has been opened.

A further object has been to provide a package so constructed that the lid may not be opened prior to opening the package without crushing or otherwise impairing or changing the appearance of the unit, thus clearly signaling the fact of tampering and so permit timely removal or repair of the package.

With the above and other objects and advantages in View, a composite package unit embodying my invention and designed to achieve the above indicated objects may include along with a dauber a circular box of shoe polish paste, or the like, of conventional form, as the snap-open type and having a peripherally beaded side wall. This box and dauber are assembled with a readily frangible and preferably transparent box supporting and dauber confining shell having a side wall arranged in close frictional contact with portions of said side wall of the box and having a bottom wall spaced from the bottom wall of the box to provide a dauber receiving compartment. Said bottom wall of the shell of one package and the top wall of the box lid of another package are advantageously formed in cross section with interfitting contours to facilitate arranging and maintaining the package umts one on another in reliably stable piles or stacks, as for storage or display. I

Other objects and distinctive features of the present invention not above pointed out will also appear from the following specification and claims and from the accompanying drawings wherein is shown a preferred embodiment thereof incorporated in a merchandising package as described in the specification. The showing so made is not intended to be either exhaustive or as limit ing the scope of the subject invention. The purpose here is rather to illustrate the invention so that others skilled in the art may so fully understand it and its principles and applications, that they may embody it and adapt it in any of various forms within the scope of the appended claims for attaining a particular or appropriate purpose in use.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 shows in elevation a form of package appropriate to the display and selling of a can or box of shoe polish paste along with a dauber for applying the paste in use;

FIG. 2, a top plan view of the package shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3, a view in elevation on enlarged scalewith the dauber confining and box supporting shell and a part of the box and lid shown in diametrical transverse section, with the dauber positioned between the box and said shell and with said shell resting on the lid of a box forming part of a lower package, as in a stack or pile of packages; and

FIG. 4, an exploded perspective view of the box and shell prior to assembly in package or unit form.

The device shown in the drawings illustrates an embodiment of the invention wherein a dauber A, FIG. 3, is conveniently packaged along with a box B of shoe polish or the like to provide a compact merchandising unit for display and sale. For this purpose, the dauber is initially confined between the bottom wall of said box B and the bottom wall of box supporting shell C which is readily applied to and removable from said box.

A convenient or conventional form of container or can for shoe polish paste, for example, includes a box B pro vided with a peripheral laterally extending bead 10. A cover or lid D for box B has an arcuate portion of its lower edge cut away at 11 to permit opening by pressure exerted on the box and lid between the users fingers to rock the lid on bead 10, such containers being commonly known as snap open cans or containers. The bottom wall of the box B is advantageously contoured, as by an annular channel 12 to interengage with a correspondingly shaped annular projection 13 on the lid D to aid in maintaining such boxes in stacks with one box resting on another.

For purposes of the present invention, the shell C, which serves initially both as a support for box B and to confine dauber A, as above noted, is of generally cupshape formed from thin gage (.075 thickness for example) acetate, or other suitable flexible frangible and preferably transparent material.

As seen more clearly in FIG. 3, the lateral wall of shell C defines a middle annular portion or zone 14 dimensioned to closely embrace the lower portion 15, i.e. below bead 10, ofbox B, when shell C is operatively assembled with box B. The lower zone or bottom annular portion 16 of shell C is of smaller diameter than middle zone 14 and defines with bottom wall 17 of the shell and bottom wall 18 of the box a compartment for confining dauber A. The upper zone or top portion 19 of shell C presents an irregularly larger diameter than that of middle zone 14. Thus, the opening defined by the lateral wall C is in effect tapered downwardly toward bottom wall 17 from its maximum at the top, thus to facilitate assembling of the package components and providing an annular seat to receive and support bead 10 of box B.

The top edge of shell C is flared above zone 19 to provide an annular flange or lip 26) projecting upwardly and outwardly beyond a shallow bead 21 providing an inwardly open annular channel which fits over and snugly engages bead 19 of the box B. As seen more clearly in FIG. 3, lip 20 is dimensioned and positioned to leave a narrow annular space between it and a lower edge portion of lid D. This enables the user to remove shell C by inserting in said space an end edge portion of his thumb nail, for example, and then peeling or stripping said shell from box B. Where the shell is formed from a thin flexible and frangible material, it is likely to stretch or tear easily when removed in the man- 3 ner described and is preferably no longer available for re-use.

A convenient type of dauber as A, for assembly with box B and shell C includes a base disc 22 of plastic and,

integral therewith, a hand hold of suitable plastic conveniently in the form of a narrow rib, as 23, at one side thereof, and a soft textured or spongy paste receiving pad 24 secured at the opposite side of disc 22. 4

It will be evident from the foregoing that a device as described may be rapidly and economically assembled to produce a package which effectively displays the goods and normally retains them in the desired assembled relat-ion until the package contents are to be used. However if squeezing pressure is applied to the package, for example in the direction of the arrows in FIG. 1 to rock lid D, the same pressure will crush or collapse a portion of shell C. A package so mutilated will be easily detected in a stack and can be replaced with an uninjured and salable package. Also, where the shell C is transparent, the color and form of the dauber will be visible in a stack of packages. Shell C serves both as a support for individual boxes B and as a spacer between the paste containers when the packages are arranged in stacks, as for display,- or in transportation.

I claim: a p

1. A merchandising package comprising a box for receiving a supply of a consumable substance in plastic condition, said box having a bottom wall and a lateral wall including a peripheral laterally extending bead, a snap-open cover thereon including a top wall and a peripheral flange depending from the periphery of said top wall, said flange having diametrically opposed arcuate portions cut away at its bottom edge and with the bottom edge portions of the flange between said arcuate cut away portions thereof bearing normally on upwardly exposed portions of said bead, said cover being adapted to be tilted on said bead to open position by pressure applied to a portion of the top wall of the cover in a direction across one of said arcuate cut-awayportions of said flange toward said bottom wall of the box, a dauber for wiping across the exposed surface of said supply of substance in the box to remove a portion thereof and thereafter to apply the same to a surface to be coated with said substance, and a dauber confining shell removably engaging said box to retain the dauber initially in readily removable relation thereto, said shell being of flexible material and comprising a bottom wall spaced from said bottom wall of the box and an annular lateral wall including bottom, top and middle portions, respectively, of difierent circumferential dimensions whereby said bottom port-ion defines a dauber enclosing compartment between said bottom wall of the box and said bottom wall of the shell, said top portion provides an annular inwardly open channel which engages said peripheral bead of the box, and said middle portion closely embraces the lateral wall of said box between said peripheral bead and said bottom wall of the box, the circumferential dimension of said middle portion being greater than that of said bottom portion and less than that of the top portion, and said shell being of a material which is readily frangible by squeezing pressure manually applied simultaneously to portions of the top wall of the cover and to the bottom wall of the shell.

2. A merchandising package according to claim 1 and wherein the top edge of the lateral wall of said shell is flared outwardly to facilitate assembly of the box with the shell and to provide a laterally projecting lip by which the shell may readily be engaged manually to strip it from the box.

3. A merchandising package for shoe polish, or the like, comprising a circular box for receiving a supply of consumable substance, said box having a tiltable lid therei on which is opened by localized manual squeezing .pressure applied at a portion of its edge, said box having a bottom wall and a side wall provided with a peripheral bead which is engaged by bottom edge portions of the lid, a dauber for use in applying the box contents, and a circular shell of transparent readily frangible aceta'te having a wall thickness of substantially .075": and including a bottom wall spaced from the bottom wall of the box, 'said dauber being disposed between said bottom walls, and a lateral wall arranged with its upper edge portion embracing said head on the box, whereby when lidopening pressure is applied while the shell is in operative dauber enclosing position on the box, per-V tions of the shell will be impaired and so reveal tampermg. v

4. In a shoe polish kit assembly which includes a dattb'er, a paste containing box comprising a bottom wall and 'a side wall having a generally cylindrical portion and an annular bead extending laterally therefrom, a snap open cover for said box comprising a top wall and an annular flange embracing said cylindrical portion of the box side wall, said cover being tilt-ably supported for actuation on said annular bead of the box by manual pressure applied to a top edge portion of the cover, the combination with a transparent plastic flexible and collapsible shell removably engaged with said box and which. includes a bottom wall spaced from said bottom wall of the box, the dauber being positioned between said bottom walls, and an annular side wall having a portion frictionally telescoped over and interengaging with said bead of the box and being removable therefrom, and said shell being suificiently fragile to be collapsed upon application of cover tilting forces to a top edge portion of said cover while said shell is attached to the box.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,074,639 3 /3 7 Burdick 15 258 2,958,087 time Check 206- 534 3,067,906 12/62 Burdick a a1. 220- 3 FORElGN PATENTS 200,990 1 2/58 Ausfi'i'a.

W. A. SCl-IEEL, Primary Examiner. 

3. A MERCHANDISING PACKAGE FOR SHOE POLISH, OR THE LIKE, COMPRISING A CIRCULAR BOX FOR RECEIVING A SUPPLY OF CONSUMABLE SUBSTANCE, SAID BOX HAVING A TILTABLE LID THEREON WHICH IS OPENED BY LOCALIZED MANUAL SQUEEZING PRESSURE APPLIED AT A PORTION OF ITS EDGE, SAID BOX HAVING A BOTTOM WALL AND A SIDE WALL PROVIDED WITH A PERIPHERAL BEAD WHICH IS ENGAGED BY BOTTOM EDGE PORTIONS OF THE LID, A DAUBER FOR USE IN APPLYING THE BOX CONTENTS, AND A CIRCULAR SHELL OF TRANSPARENT READILY FRANGIBLE ACETATE HAVING A WALL THICKNESS OF SUBSTANTIALLY .075" AND INCLUDING A BOTTOM WALL SPACED FROM THE BOTTOM WALL OF THE BOX, SAID DAUBER BEING DISPOSED BETWEEN SAID BOTTOM WALLS, AND A LATERAL WALL ARRANGED WITH ITS UPPER EDGE PORTION EMBRACING SAID BEAD ON THE BOX, WHEREBY 